>>I am not personally familiar with native american legends, though I have>heard that many tribes have some sort of sasquatch legend (the name>"sasquatch" is, after all, an indian name).

Indeed. THat was my point. And none of the salish myths which gave
rise to the euro-american myth of bigfoot support the notion that the
critter actually exists or existed. Again, see Prof. Suttles' book, Coast
Salish Essays...

>Some of these legends>apparently go back quite far. At the Maryhill museum along the Columbia>river there are several carved stone heads of a large variety of Pacific>Northwest animals. All of these animals are known to exist today, except>one. The stone carvings of one of these creatures was identified by>several zoologists as being that of a non-human primate, though before the>zoologists knew where the carvings came from. When the source of the>carvings was told to the zoologists, they changed their mind and said the>carvings were of "bighorn sheep"

If they couldn't tell for sure, it is weak "evidence," wouldn't you agree?

>>As far as an 800 pound primate walking through the woods never leaving any>remains or being shot by hunters, one must consider that people who have>lived in the woods of the Pacific Northwest have never encountered bear>remains, though no one would question their existence. It is just>extremely unlikely to find the remains of any wild creature that has not>been killed by a human.

Have you spent much time in the woods? In the 5 months I worked for the
Forest Service alone, I and folks I worked with alone found remains of
two large, adult black bears. Cave excavations have yielded many
bear/cougar/etc. bones in the Cascades. I've found dozens of deer kills,
a coyote skull, and mountain goats in the supposed haunts of the bigfoot.

>>Numerous hunters have reported seeing sasquatch, though it is true no one>has as yet come forward saying they shot one.

If you were familiar with the hunting culture in rural Oregon and
Washington, that fact alone would elicit awe.

>1) from the numerous sightings it appears that sasquatch is>nocturnal, 2)wheather it is day or night, few hunters would take a chance>on shooting ANY bipedal primate, as the only one accepted by science to>exist is man,

Even a drunk hunter wouldn't mistake an 800-pound ape for a human.
Remember, Gorilla gorilla silverbacks aren't THAT big! If they weren't
sure, I would discount their claims...

> and hunters are not likely to knowingly shoot a man (or what>they think might be a man)